Joe Van's 1966 GMC Handivan

Its been a while since I posted on my thread havent got too much done in this Summer Heat except keeping everything in working order and hitting some local "Car Shows"...But I did manage to gather up some needed parts over the summer for my winter project's in a month or so...After looking over a year I found a 2nd gen Fan Shroud & a Clutch Fan I will use my electric one as a "Hamburg" style puller up front above the belly pan behind the grill. ........ After trying to figure out how to make a hitch for the van for some time now I found a Custom class 5 Vally hitch on Ebay did some parts swapping and it's in my garage... .. Plus I did some more parts swaping and managed to come up with a 2ng gen "Floor Tunnel" and a Roof patch to cover the rear vent opening... ..

Last edited by Joe Van on Sun Sep 21, 2014 9:28 am; edited 1 time in total

And I also managed to get all the needed parts to "Properly" hook up my E brake..!!!..I Have a "Go Cart" throttle cable and some shock absorber washers for the pulley's... ...I want to "THANK",,,,, G Run ,,,,Mikeysly,,,,&,,,,Hywaychild,,, ,,

You're on a roll Joe! Nice prep for the cooler weather...what does it drop down to in your part of Florida in the winter? 50 degrees??? When I left for work on Friday morning, the temp was 35 degrees. Little early for that nonsense!! Keep us posted on your progress. Looks like some excellent upgrades coming soon!

Getting my Early ready for Zephorhills Auto Fest..!!!..Finally after wanting to do it all summer today my friend Gerold came over and we painted my side doors ... ...Now I can start on the interior going to do the doors first with maby a 3-4 inch wide pine board either ship lap or tongue and grove depending what I find may just varnish it and leave it natural color or I have some Dark Walnut stain too.. ..

What other color would you expect on the "Red Ryder"? Probably drinks Red Bull to keep him on his toes! Joe, keep up posted with pics on the interior as you progress...Please and Thank You! I need a friend like Gerald! Doors look like they turned out nice.

Well after spending all summer collecting parts I had a burst of energy today got my powder coated factory air cleaner installed today and my "Hurst Quarter Stick" shifter installed also now just have to save for a longer cable..!!!.. The shifter would not sit flat on the box so instead of spending all day grinding a piece of 1/2 inch steel plate I made a spacer out of 1/2 inch ply wood instead..

Off the topic I went to a Car Show last week and there it was my old 1941 Willys Coupe the guy sent it to a paint shop and went crazy with fire,, flames.. pin stripes..graffics,, My opinion he over did it but still it was tough to look at after spending 6 years building and driveing it and putting 5,300 miles on it..!!!. Still its a "Bad A$$ Car... ..

Thanks Guy's..!!!.. ..Joe the shifter is a "Rear Exit" reverse pattern shifter so the front eyelet looks awful small... I am looking at a 8 foot cable...I could get the 5 foot one to work that came with it if I did not have to open the lid..But look around if you have one that will work (8-10-foot) I will buy it from you its $71,12 for a 8 footer from Hurst.. .

Joe Van wrote:Well after spending all summer collecting parts I had a burst of energy today got my powder coated factory air cleaner installed today and my "Hurst Quarter Stick" shifter installed also now just have to save for a longer cable..!!!.. The shifter would not sit flat on the box so instead of spending all day grinding a piece of 1/2 inch steel plate I made a spacer out of 1/2 inch ply wood instead..

That's cool, with the cover on, you can't tell! Nice solution to the auto conversion problem!

I have a B&M 10 footer here but not sure if the end to the shifter mount would work. They appear to be brand specific?I also have a few industrial type cables I can check at the shop , but again the fit would be in question as they usually are quite large at the mounting areas.

Digz wrote:I have a B&M 10 footer here but not sure if the end to the shifter mount would work. They appear to be brand specific?I also have a few industrial type cables I can check at the shop , but again the fit would be in question as they usually are quite large at the mounting areas.

Joe the shifter eyelet and the threaded end looks right but I have C clips on both ends of my cable and it has to go through a bracket first..My Hurst shifter has a rear exit cable and is different from the front exit cable ones I have seen so looks like I will have to spend the $71.00 to buy the 8 foot one made for my specific shifter...I appericate it anyway I wish your 10 footer would have worked..!!!.. .

Moving right along I picked up a "Sport Comp" tac for the van Wednesday from a friend of mine for $40,00 ( a $200,00 tac) a little BIG but I could not resist...!!!..And it matches the rest of my gauges.!!!.. ..

I ordered the 8ft cable today so I can start using my "New" shifter..!!!. ...I will post pictures of the install.. The cable going to run down the the inside of the lid and go down the inside of the back of the box and loop around to the transmission it sounds good hopefully it will all work out that way being a "Reverse Pattern" shifter I have to flip the lever up on the trans because it pushes the cable instead of pulling to go in to gear..!!!. .

Well the cable came today and 4 hours later its official the column shifter is "GONE" I still have to add a couple of cable clamps and its done..!!!.. .The hardest part of the hole job was getting that 5 foot shifting linkage bar out with the headers and everything else in the way..!!!...Gonna start gathering parts for my front "Disk Brake" conversion meanwhile I am going to convert the throttle linkage to cable more pictures to follow..!!!.. ..I am going to try use a 3rd gen cable from a 1978 Chevy Van,,,,My seats lay flat fully reclined so having to do everything up side down it kept me from pulling the drivers seat out..!!!. ..Here is the Old linkage and the New one..